Gating kick and snare

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris Jahn
  • Start date Start date
mixsit said:
Does that one not have lookahead?
Click to expand...

The waves ones dont have lk ahead that i can recall.
The look ahead gate in pro tools, and in digital performer have always served me well.

The ones in waves worked fine too, but i could see how the attack loss could be an issue without that nifty look ahead feature.
 
There was a time when gating drums was more popular, really SOP. I think around the same time we stopped drowning everything in reverb, and recordings became more organic, we started actually embracing bleed as part of the natural sound of a drum kit. Hell, bleed is even incorporated into BFD drums, and it's a big part of what makes that sample set so real. You can dial it out, but you find that it really belongs there to some extent.
These days when I try to use gates on an acoustic drum kit, I'm so aware of the change in ambience as various gates open and close that I just turn them off. That's a definite change in my thinking from 20 years ago.
 
xfinsterx said:
The waves ones dont have lk ahead that i can recall.
The look ahead gate in pro tools, and in digital performer have always served me well.

The ones in waves worked fine too, but i could see how the attack loss could be an issue without that nifty look ahead feature.
Click to expand...
Nice.
Looks like I need to get myself a look ahead gate. :)

Eck
 
The first thing to ask yourself is what are you trying to accomplish by using gates? First and foremost, what does the kist sound like as a whole without them? It is after all, one instrument and generally should be treated as such in the mix.

If I'm looking for punch and clarity, especially in the kick, the first thing I will generally do is flip the polarity on the kick track opposite the rest of the mics on the kit. 99% of the time, for me at least, I see a marked improvement, depending of course on the kit, style, drummer mic placement etc. etc. Sometimes the kick and snare will both jump right out at me as soon as I flip the polarity. YMMV

Then after working a little eq and balance, on the kit and in the mix as a whole, I might examine whether I want to use any gating or not. I have been doing a lot of live recording on location in clubs lately, so I have actually been using a bit more gating since I'm encountering a type of bleed you don't normally get recording an isolated drum kit in a booth :eek:

Anyway, when it comes to bleed and gating, you just have to give it an honest listen and decide whether the bleed you're getting is:

A.) Detrimental to
B.)Neutral to
C.)Benifical to

the sound of the overall mix. Gating bleed "just because it's there" has never made any sense to me.

and yes, the waves gates suck :(

good luck!
 
I use gates on toms, for a very specific reason...
If you gate toms so they shut up, except when they are played, it takes a lot of low end rumble out of your mix that otherwise just muddies it up. Especially if you EQ the low end and/or compress them at all.

Try it as an experiment, or at least solo the tom tracks and listen to how much muddy frequencies you have going on there. You might be suprised.

I never gate kick or snare, though because mic placement on those two cures most of that for me, and it is too tricky to get gates to work properly without missing anything on a kick or snare.
 
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